


Batman vs Superman: The Gotham Bat

by Tinni



Category: Batman - All Media Types, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Superman - All Media Types
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-21
Updated: 2019-08-21
Packaged: 2020-09-23 08:20:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 676
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20337016
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tinni/pseuds/Tinni
Summary: If I wrote BVS I would focus more on Superman and Batman's civilian identities. Then I remembered, I can experiment with rewriting BVS thanks to fanfiction!





	Batman vs Superman: The Gotham Bat

“I have two jobs for you, Kent,” Perry White said with a slightly condescending smile, “Both involves you taking the ferry across to Gotham.”

“Okay, what stories am I covering?” wondered Clark.

“First, you need to cover the Wayne Enterprise process conference about what they are planning to do for the joint project Wayne Enterprises are undertaken with Lex Corp,” Perry explained, “But while you are at it, I want you to see if you can find something on the Gotham Bat.” We haven’t had a good Gotham Bat story in a while!” he added with a smirk.

“Okay,” replied Clark, not quite getting the joke but sensing there was a joke he was missing.

Fortunately, Lois filled him in during lunch, “Perry always gives the newbie a Gotham Bat assignment. But honestly, short of finding out who the Gotham Bat is, there isn’t much we can write about him. At this point, we aren’t even sure if he’s real.”

“I don’t know much about the Gotham Bat,” Clark confessed, “But I seem to recall the Gotham PD working with the Bat. Didn’t they have a Bat-signal whatever?”

“Yes, a few years ago for a short time, during the worst of the Joker’s rampage. But shortly after the Joker was caught, the public sentiment became mixed. Some people love the idea of the Batman. Others find the idea of a vigilante operating outside the law and accountability, disturbing. Not very different from the arguments around Superman,” she pointed out.

Clark smiled in acknowledgement but then got back to the topic at hand, “So the GCPD is not cooperating with the Bat anymore?”

“They still have the Bat-signal from what I understand,” Lois replied, “But it hasn’t been turned on for years. There are still rumours of the Bat. But no one is sure if it’s one Bat or many Bats. The last newbie to get a piece published floated a theory that there were many Bats. He managed to line-up interviews with what he said was a group of Batmen operating out of Gotham sewers. The evidence was compelling enough that Perry approved the publication. But that was two years ago. No newbie has gotten a Gotham Bat story published since.”

“So it’s some sort of test?”

“Yep, that’s why Perry usually piggybacks the Bat story with a real assignment. But it’s actually not a bad test. It’s a good test of investigative skills and your ability to find a new angle on a very old story.”

“Thanks for filling me in, I guess I have a lot of research to do!”

* * *

The Gotham Bat was real. The Gotham Bat was an urban legend. The Gotham Bat regularly took down criminal gangs but people swore they had seen the Batmobile, as some called it on the internet, barreling down the Gotham streets. But in the age of mobile cameras, no one had a clear picture. Also, since the Gotham Bat has been a thing for almost a decade, with the Joker’s rampage happening eight years ago, the story was not fresh. A lot of ink had been spilt on the Gotham Bat. So unless someone had something new to report, all Gotham Bat news article only got clicks for the Bat fanatic.

Clark wondered if it would be wrong of him to use his Superpowers to find out about the Gotham Bat. It was something he was struggling with, how ethical would it be to use his superpowers to further his career? It felt wrong somehow. If he used his powers to break a story ahead of someone like Lois, for example, it surely wasn’t a win he had earned. So Clark decided he would play by the rules. He would find a story about the Gotham Bat as Clark Kent. He would not use his superpowers while in Gotham.

With that resolved, he turned to getting himself up to speed on the partnership between Wayne Enterprises and Lex Corp to jointly research and exploit the Kryptonian scout technology that was now strewn across the globe.


End file.
